Allen Legal's Feedback From Two Significant Recent Compliance Summits

Last week, representatives from the FTC visited Utah to present on consumer fraud and abuse in conjunction with the Utah Division of Consumer Protection.  The event was well-attended in Salt Lake City, but mostly by regulators and law enforcement.  Allen Legal staff were some of the only private compliance/defense attorneys present. The presentations were educational and reiterated that their investigations and enforcement remain complaint-based. Meaning, reducing or eliminating consumer complaints to regulatory agencies should be a top priority for marketers.  The online sale of nutraceuticals and telemarketing sales of home business opportunities both remain on the Division's short list of top complaints received.

Eric Allen from our firm also attended the PACE national compliance summit earlier this week in Washington DC, the presenters at which included both the FTC and FCC, among others.  Lois Greisman of the FTC emphasized that robocall enforcement will continue to be aggressive in 2019 and that companies cannot turn a blind eye to lead and call vendor violations.  Mark Stone of the FCC spoke about possible new forthcoming TCPA regulations, further redefining the definition of an ATDS and other important issues, especially in light of the recent decision in ACA Int'l which overturned their prior definitions. Contact a TCPA lawyer if you need help making sense of any of this information.


Learn more about telemarketing fines and robocall laws. If you need a telemarketing lawyer to help you with telemarketing compliance, call 801-930-1117.

Court Finds that Predictive Dialer is not an ATDS

Over the last few months, court rulings have been piling up on both sides of the aisle in the debate over what exactly constitutes an ATDS. Recently, and in stark contrast to the recent Marks v. Crunch Ninth Circuit decision, the court held in Fleming v. Associated Credit Servs. that a predictive dialer is not covered under the TCPA.

Below is an excerpt from the Judge's ruling:

"I hold that when the D.C. Circuit vacated the 2015 FCC Declaratory Ruling it also necessarily set aside the parts of the previous 2003 and 2008 FCC Orders that ruled that a predictive dialer was impermissible under the TCPA. . . The TCPA explicitly defines an ATDS as “equipment which has the capacity—(A) to store or produce telephone numbers to be called, using a random or sequential number generator; and (B) to dial such numbers.” 47 U.S.C. § 227(a)(1). Does a system that dials numbers from a list that was not randomly or sequentially generated when the list was created qualify as an ATDS? With only the statutory text to guide me, I am convinced that the answer is no."
Learn more about autodialer laws and the definition of ATDS.

Uber Reaches $148 Million Settlement with State AGs in Data Breach Case

Popular ride-sharing service Uber has agreed to a $148 million settlement with the Attorneys General from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. A November 2016 hack of Uber's systems left important driver data compromised. Uber didn't make the breach public until November 2017, which violated laws that many states have in place that require businesses to inform their customers and/or employees as soon as possible in the event of a data breach. Read more here. Businesses should ensure that they have a proper data beach response plan in place.

Christine S. Wilson Sworn in as New FTC Commissioner

President Trump has named former Delta executive Christine S. Wilson as a new FTC Commissioner after former Commissioner Maureen K. Ohlhausen announced her departure last week.  Read the FTC's press release here.